Lost and Found
by Prof Weeto
Summary: The story of a young fox named Red
1. Lost Youth

**Lost…….**

**1. Lost Youth**

It was spring and for the animals living in a small wood on the banks of a river this meant only one thing. New life had just entered the world. The wood suddenly felt alive again, the trees had grown new leaves, plants had burst from the soil and the sun shone down basking the land in a warming glow. It was clear from the actions of the animals that their parental instincts had kicked in. Each of them went about their business with a renewed sense of vigour knowing that for the moment they lived to serve a greater good. No less so than inside an old foxes earth on the northern side of the wood.

Inside a middle aged pair of foxes lived with their recently born family. The couple had been together two seasons thus far but had failed to raise any cubs last year due to sickness. This spring though they were quite delighted to see six cubs still with them, four male and two female. Of the six three tended to stand out from the rest.

One of which was a fairly large male with a vibrant red coat of fur. He was defiantly the most forward of the litter, challenging the others whenever possible. He had been named Fang by his farther after it was noticed that he had a predominantly larger tooth on the right side of his mouth.

The second was a female, she had the perfect sleek form of a hunter with a keen sense of sight to match. She was very protective in personality and tended to be more interested in looking out of her brothers and sister than herself. Her fur was a deep red save for a stripe of black running along her back and a black tip to her left ear. She had been given the name Flame by her parents.

The last of the three was a very striking male, he was the largest of the six and quite possibly the largest cub either of his parents had ever seen. What really set him apart from all other foxes though was the fact that his fur was entirely black. From the tip of his nose to the end of his tail he was as black as the darkest night. But in spite of his imposing appearance he was very quiet and tended to keep his distance from the other members of his family. Whether it was due to any of this or not his father always seemed to resent him. As a result his brothers began to call him a freak whilst his mother tended to admonish them for this, his father let it go and even seemed to agree with them. He was named Red by his father as a blatant dig at his abnormal appearance.

The remaining cubs were average by fox standards and were named Brawler, Rage and Siren.

The weeks began to pass quickly and the six cubs started to grow up. Soon it had come to the point in the young cub's lives when it was time to go on their first hunting trip.

"Looks dark enough tonight" the mother vixen thought to herself looking up at the stars.  
"Ok all of you be quiet and form a line" said the mother vixen  
The six cubs proceeded to scramble into some sort of vague order although it was clearly not a line.  
"Yes, at last we get to go hunting" whispered Flame in a gruff macho voice  
Siren looked at her and giggled "shhh stop making me laugh"  
The mother vixen glared at them.  
"A line, that's not a line" rebuked the mother vixen "go hunting like that and you'll never catch anything"  
The cubs continued to jostle and scramble around. At this point she realised she had to step in, she pushed the cubs around gently with her snout until all six were lined up immaculately.  
The mother vixen scanned up and down the line "hmmm that's much better, now I want you all…... What is it Fang?"  
"I'm not going to catch anything if I have to hunt like this" moaned Fang  
"What on earth do you mean" said the mother vixen fast running out of patience  
"It's this ugly beast next to me" quipped Fang referring to Red. "It'll only take one whiff of his foul stench and there won't be anything left alive to hunt in the whole wood". Both Brawler and Rage found this highly amusing. Red turned to Fang and growled bearing his teeth. Red had discovered a new feeling over the past few weeks, that of anger. His brothers had pushed him so much that he had almost snapped on a number of occasions. Each jibe had left its mark and unbeknown to all present it would only take one too many to destroy the family.

"Shut up Fang that's not funny" scolded the mother Vixen "Now I want you all to concentrate and watch me closely, I'm about to teach you the most important lesson you will ever learn"  
She stole another look at each of them in turn, noting the look of readiness in their eyes. Once her stare fell to Red she noticed there was something else besides readiness in his eyes, what that something else was she could not tell. Good or bad only time would unveil this mystery.  
With that thought in her mind she turned to face south. "Follow me to the river…….and stick together all of you"


	2. Lost Innocence

**2. Lost Innocence**

The cubs had returned from the hunting trip exhausted but content in the knowledge they had pickup an important life skill. With the exception of Red, he had been continually frustrated by Fangs actions during the trip. Every time Red had the drop on his prey Fang would arrive and interfere causing him to come up empty pawed. All five of the other cubs had caught and eaten something during the hunt whilst he now ached with hunger. He was just about ready to explode and let the seething anger he now felt out. The only thing he could do to stop it was to slump himself down in the corner of the den and close his eyes.

Night turned to day as the family slept. He awoke with a start to the sound of loud voices coming from the entrance of the den. He looked around in the dim light, his two sisters and Rage were still sleeping. Pulling himself upright he decided to investigate. Looking out through the entrance he could see it was late afternoon and the sky had begun to darken, straight ahead were his parents. He strained to hear what they were arguing about.

"I don't understand, you promised me" said his mother "we were going to treat them all the same"  
"I said I would try…… but I just can't do it" his father turned away "you know the reason why, Ill never be able to accept the two of them as my own" On that note he made his exit leaving his mate in tears wondering what had happened to the understanding Fox she once knew. She turned to follow but noticed Red through the corner of her eye.  
"Red go back inside and rest I need to go after your father, don't worry about Fang or Brawler they're with him" barked his mother "Ill be back soon"  
She turned and ran into the trees.

Red re-entered the earth to find his sisters and Rage wide awake.  
"Where is everyone" Asked Rage. Red just blanked him, he wasn't interested in a long drawn out conversation with someone he didn't like right now, besides he didn't have an answer to that question. "I asked you a question" snarled Rage. Again Red took no notice and just slumped to the floor in his usual spot. He needed to think, what did his father mean when he said "Ill never be able to accept the two of them as my own". Which two? He guessed it must be himself but who else. His mind swam with unanswered questions.  
"Don't ignore me" roared Rage as he bounded over to where Red lay and proceeded to growl loudly.  
"I don't know ok" Red said coolly  
"I heard voices up there, tell me what was going on or you'll regret it" warned Rage  
"No, and the only thing Ill ever regret is having to grow up with filth like you around" barked Red angrily.  
"Me filth, ha-ha-ha" laughed Rage "I take it you've never seen your own reflection then, because you're the only filthy beast around here"  
Red stood up at last and faced down his adversary.  
Rages smile broadened.  
"So that got your attention did it, truth hurts huh?" sniggered Rage "You bring shame down on the whole family, your brothers, sisters, father and worst of all even your mother is ashamed of you"  
"That's……that's not true" stammered Red "Take it back" tears began to form in his eyes.  
"It's true, clear as the nose on your face, well it is to anyone with half a brain at least" said Rage "We'd all be much better off without you"  
By this time Flame and Siren had taken major interest in the exchange. It was getting seriously out of hand.  
"Stop it Rage, leave him alone, you've taken it too far" shouted Flame  
But it was too late the damage had been done. That last comment had registered as true in Reds mind, it crushed him. All he wished for now was to fall into a void where no one could taunt or ridicule him anymore, he just wanted it all to stop. Then it happened, his anger which had been building up over his entire short existence boiled over. He charged full tilt into his brother, knocking him back into the wall of the den. Before Rage could recover Red leapt onto him and taking his brothers neck in his jaws he bit down with all his strength. Flame couldn't believe what she was seeing. Red had turned from a quiet friendly fox into a wild hate filled monster, and if she didn't act fast she would likely loose a brother maybe even two. She had to divert his attention. Red was now on top of his brother using his body weight to pin Rage to the ground. His jaws still firmly wrapped around his brother's neck. Blood began to pour from Rages wounds.

"Siren go find help quickly" Ordered Flame.  
Siren hesitated for a second then ran with all the speed she could out of the den and into the trees in the hope of finding assistance.  
Once Flame was sure Siren was out of danger she jumped onto Reds back in order to divert his attention and cause him to let go. It didn't work Red continued to grip Rage and merely shook her off like drop of water. "Well that approach isn't going to work" she thought to herself. Words were not having the desired affect either no matter what she said Red continued to squeeze the life from Rage. He just wasn't listening.

She circled the two foxes looking for some kind of opening she could use to break up the fight, all the while continuing to try and calm her enraged brother.  
"Please Red….you have to stop this, you've got to listen to me" pleaded Flame  
She moved into a position where she could look into his eyes. Red met her gaze and was suddenly hit by a moment of absolute clarity. He saw the fear and determination in her expression. But there was something else too, a deep and undeniable affection. Rage had been wrong after all, someone in his family wasn't ashamed.

Then he tasted the blood. He quickly released his grip on Rage and backed away. He looked down at the still body of his brother. It was too late Rage was gone.  
"What have I done?" said Red shakily. Tears began to stream down his face.  
"He…..he……just wouldn't be quiet, I just wanted him to leave me alone…..I…." quivered Red. He knew it was no excuse.

Flame looked between Red and the body of Rage a number of times, she knew what she had to do. She needed to control herself "I've got to hold back my tears, I need to be strong so I can convince Red of what he needs to do" Flame thought to herself.  
She managed to get her voice under control. "You need to leave Red, and quickly you don't have much time"  
"But…..but……why" stammered Red  
"Siren has gone to find help, she will no doubt return with father any time now" she said seriously "And once he finds out what you did he'll……" she lost control and broke down into tears "I just couldn't bear to loose another brother today" she cried.  
Red saw the truth in this remark. Flame had been the only member of his family ever to take a serious interest in him. He owed it to her to comply with her wish. He pulled him self together.  
"I'm sorry you had to witness this Flame, it was the last thing you deserve" he said meaningfully "take care of yourself"  
"What about you?" replied Flame  
"Don't worry about me, after this I'm already dead" and with that he darted out of the earth and ran as fast as he could south towards the river.


	3. Lost Security

**3. Lost Security**

It had been many months since Red had departed from his old home. The seasons had shifted twice and it was now the middle of autumn. A biting winter's chill was clearly evident on the wind. Red had travelled south, crossing over the river near his home. He turned at this point and followed its flow for many miles. He moved at a brisk pace and didn't stop until he was sure he was well out of his father's territory.

Initially he had found being independent very difficult. No fox should be out on their own at his age and with such limited survival experience. In fact the only experience he had to draw upon was a single solitary lesson in hunting. This meant that the rest of life's lessons would have to be learnt the hard way, via bitter experience.

Red had grown in size and was now equally as large as his father, but was yet to have reached adulthood. He had become a very impressive looking animal, with both strength and cunning beyond his years. During his journey so far he had encountered many obstacles, rivers, roads, cars, towns, but had always managed to overcome them taking only minor knocks. Although these would be described as trivial to most well travelled foxes, Red due to his age saw them as mammoth achievements and proof that he didn't need anyone else's help to survive. A final test still awaited him though, as of yet he had not experienced the cruelty of man.

As far as companionship went on his journey, there was none. Red had barley spoken a word since leaving his home, this suited him for a while but as the months dragged things started to get a little boring. To keep himself occupied he'd devise intricate and sometimes bizarre games to play. Probably the strangest, at least for a fox to perform came to him one day whilst watching a family of squirrels running up and down their tree.  
"How do they do that" Red thought to himself craning his neck upwards to look.  
"And why can't a fox do it, doesn't look too hard"  
That was it his mind was made up, he'd occupy his time learning to climb. "Imagine the benefits, the possibilities for trickery were endless" this thought brought as smile to his face.

For the next month Red divided his time between climbing practice and continuing to follow the river. Climbing had turned out to be much harder than he had initially thought, his respect for squirrels jumped up a notch or two. Eventually he had devised a feasible way to get into some of the lower branches. By running flat out and leaping onto the tree and then following up with some frantic clawing, he could haul himself into braches that were up to ten feet off the ground. This was good enough and should give him even more of an edge when hunting or trying to protect himself.

As autumn began to draw to a close Red found himself on the doorstep of another town near the river. It was late evening and all was quiet. He looked up to the stars.  
"Looks like winters here" he thought feeling a blast of icy wind buffet him. "Might be time to find a place to settle till it's over"  
He studied the terrain on his side of the river, there looked to be a good sized wood off in the distance just beyond a few fields.  
"Looks as good place as any" he said to himself as he set off in its direction.

He reached the wood on the cusp of the next morning having stopped to hunt along the way. With his stomach full all he wanted to do now was sleep. Taking a quick look around it was obvious there were no empty earths nearby.  
"Looks like I'll be sleeping up on high again today" he thought looking up to the trees.  
Red had slept on tree branches a number of times during his long journey, actually finding it quite comfortable. He climbed up into a large oak tree and immediately fell soundly asleep on one of its thick branches.

He awoke to the sound of an alluring voice in the air. Blinking the sleep from his eyes he looked to the ground. It was another fox, in fact it was a vixen. Just sitting looking up at him totally bewildered by the site she was seeing.  
"What on earth are you doing way up there" she said.  
Red didn't know what to say, he hadn't spoken for so long that the words just wouldn't form in his mouth.  
"What's the matter can't you talk" the vixen said cocking her head to one side.  
"Of course I can" Red replied sarcastically.  
"Well excuse me, someone certainly got up on the wrong side of the branch this morning" she started to walk away "Ill leave you in peace".  
Red stood up and leapt to the ground following her.  
"Hey wait……I'm sorry ok, its just I'm not very good at this" he shouted after her.  
She turned to face him again "Not very good at what exactly?"  
"Well, conversations I guess" Red replied shyly "Put it this way, it's been a while since my last one".  
"I can tell" the vixen said with a smile on her face. "I've never seen you around before, what exactly brings you here?"  
"First of all I'd like to know your name if I may" said Red with an expectant expression on his face.  
"Well as I'm the only vixen around, everyone generally knows me as simply…..Vixen" She replied shrugging.  
"Ok Vixen it is, my names Red and I'm here because I've got nowhere else to go" Red said honestly.  
"Red? That's a peculiar name considering the circumstances" Vixen pointed out.  
"Yeah I know…….It's something I'd rather not get into right now though" he said with a hint of sadness in his voice.  
Vixen thought better of pursuing any further "Very well I won't press the issue".  
"But you still didn't really answer my question, why choose such a perilous place to stay?" continued Vixen  
"I didn't know it was dangerous here, it's so peaceful" Red explained looking around.  
"And you didn't stop for a minute to ask why it's so quiet here?" exasperated Vixen.  
"No, should I have?" said Red.  
"Yes of course, well unless you don't fear the hunt" urged Vixen.  
"I fear nothing" Red said seriously.  
"That's pretty arrogant of you" Vixen exclaimed.  
"No not arrogance, I just have no fear of death" replied Red "In fact death is probably nothing less than I deserve".  
Vixen stared in disbelief, she couldn't fathom what he must have gone through to obtain such a mind set. Suddenly a blast of a horn clearly audible through the trees interrupted them. Both foxes looked in the direction the sound had come from.  
"What's that?" inquired Red.  
"It's the hunt, they've picked up a scent" replied Vixen as she scanned the horizon for movement.  
"Which direction did you enter the wood from? Quickly tell me" demanded Vixen.  
"From the opposite direction you did, why?" said Red.  
Vixen sighed "It's me they've found then, you better leave now or they'll come after us both".  
Red thought about this for a moment "Your right one of us is going to leave, but its not going to be me" he looked her in the eyes "What am I facing here".  
It was then she realised he had not been lying, not a hint of fear emanated from him.  
"A pack of vicious hounds, stirred on by a group of merciless humans, all hell bent on your destruction" she summed up.  
"Just your usual everyday pursuers then" he said sending her a warm smile. "Now go and don't look back".  
"Thank you………I wont forget this" Vixen took a final glance at Red and then disappeared deeper into the wood.  
"You will" he whispered under his breath.  
By now the barks of the hounds rang clear in the air, they were close.  
Red began to limber up, he could ill afford his legs to cramp up now. He needed to be at his peak if he stood any chance of coming out on top today. A plan had begun to form in his mind, it was clever but would involve as much risk to himself as to the hounds. This was a gamble he was more than willing to take.

It took another few minutes before the hunt came into view. Red counted twenty hounds and five humans on horses all weaving their way through the trees. It was now or never. Red began to bark loudly, once he was sure he had their attention he turned and sprinted in the direction he had entered the wood from. It didn't take long before Red had left the wood and entered the fields he had crossed the previous evening. He stole a glimpse back, the hunt had just emerged from the wood. He had gained a bit more of a lead during their time amongst the trees, whether or not this lead would hold across the flat land was another story however. Red pushed himself harder than he ever had before, he had to win this. His stamina was holding there was no tiredness in his body. His breathing was controlled and regular, all the signs were pointing to him reaching his goal.

Finally it came into view, the town, his goal was mere minutes away. This spurred Red on to greater heights and hardened his resolve. The barks of the dogs had become a lot louder as the chase continued over open ground. The gap had begun to close. Soon Red could almost feel the hot breath of the hounds on the back of his neck, they were practically on top of him. At that point something changed, Red could guess what it was he'd been banking on the very thing happening. The humans had called off the chase, the hunt had taken them far to close to the town. But there was still a problem, ten problems to be exact. Half of the hounds were in such a crazed state that they ignored their masters commands and proceeded to follow Red into the depths of the town.

The chase entered the town. The outer streets were relatively quiet and the pursuit went on unhindered. Red made a beeline directly towards the town centre, he was going to need human assistance to get out of this fix. Eventually he came flying out onto the town's high street. There were humans everywhere, both sides of the road were teeming with them. He started to pick his way through the mass of legs on his side of the road, behind him less than ten meters away the hounds began to do the same.  
"It's not working" Red thought to himself  
The people on the pavement had now noticed the animals and were scattering, Red was going to have to take more drastic measures. At the nearest opportunity he leapt into the road and ran headlong towards the oncoming traffic. Trusting to his instincts he dodged in and out of the traffic. Cars and trucks swerved left and right trying to avoid the eleven animals now bounding up the main though fare of the town.

Eventually he reached the end of the high street, it terminated at a bridge crossing the river. Red had trusted to luck when he jumped into the road and it held. He came out of the ordeal without a scratch. The same could not be said for the hounds. Three of them had been hit by traffic whilst in the road, their hunting days now firmly over. Three more had been spooked by the loud noises of the traffic and had bolted in random directions forgetting all about their quarry. The remaining four, although now quite a bit behind had managed to stay on Red's trail. Red had stopped to catch his breath at the rivers edge, thinking he had escaped. It only took one bark to shatter that illusion, the four hounds had found him.  
"Great" muttered Red  
He didn't even turn to look, he knew all to well what was behind him. Getting to his feet he started to run again. Wearily Red ran along the river bank constantly looking at the churning water. It was time for another roll of the dice, but would they land in his favour one last time? Into the river he went, the water currents were merciless, pulling him around like a leaf in the wind. It took everything he had left to get to the opposite bank, once there he was exhausted. He had to keep going though, at least until he found a place to hide. Limping away from the river Red set out towards a small copse he had noticed on top of a steep hill. By now the hounds had reached the point at which Red had crossed the river, they were unsure if they should follow and started to argue about it.

Red mean while had made good progress towards the copse on the hill considering his current state. Walking was very painful now. If the hounds made it across the river his chance of survival was minimal at best. Eventually he reached the cover of the trees, and collapsed keeping his eyes fixed on the river. The minutes started to pass, everyone that went by boosted Red's confidence that he would not be followed. Then his heart sank, two of the dogs emerged from the river bank and started to make there way directly towards his position.

The few minutes rest the dogs arguments had given him had done some good. Red was confident that he could manage one more burst of action before his body gave up. He started to back up to the rear of the copse. Suddenly he noticed the copse essentially had no rear, it was just a sheer drop at least thirty feet down.  
Red sighed "uhhhhhggg". He had only one option left and that was to face the hounds in direct combat.

It took the pair of hounds longer than expected to climb the hill, both were clearly tired. They knew exactly where Red was hiding and decided to spread out to attack from both sides at once. For some reason the dog attacking from the right got to Red first. Instead of waiting for his accomplice to arrive the hound decided to attack straight away and charged Red as soon as he was in full view. Red didn't move, he could see that the dog hadn't noticed the sheer drop that he was practically sitting on. Right at the last second just before the hound was about to strike, Red flattened himself to the floor. It was only then that the hound could see his folly. His front legs clipped Reds back. This coupled with his unstoppable momentum caused him to go head over heals straight down the drop. The hound landed with a thud and never moved again. By this point the second dog had arrived on the scene, watching its companion die angered it greatly. Things were finally a little more even.

Red had to wrap this fight up quickly he didn't have the stamina for anything more. He turned and ran in the direction the first hound had come from, the second hound chased after him thinking he was going to try and run away again. That was not Red's intention at all, he aimed directly for a large tree at the edge of the copse. He leapt on to it and dug his claws into its trunk. Red turned his head and looked down. Once he saw that the hound was within a meter of the tree he pushed himself backwards and released his grip. Flipping in mid air Red landed behind the hound, he wasted no time and jumped at the dog. The hound was caught completely unawares by this move and was knocked sprawling. Red knew he didn't have the energy left to pin the dog while he killed it, so he decided to do the next best thing. While the hound was still stunned he grabbed hold of one of its back legs in his jaws and wrenched it back at an angle it shouldn't be able to move in. There was a sickly cracking sound and the dog cried out in pain. Red let go and backed off, even an injured dog could be lethal. The hound started to whimper and lick at it's now broken leg. Red though better of hanging around until the hound's attention fell back to him and slipped away at the fastest possible pace he could manage.

Once he reached the bottom of the slope leading to the copse he looked around for somewhere he could rest. The only other cover in the area besides the copse was a lone tree not too far away. It would have to do. He painfully made is way there. At every step he just wanted to collapse. Red knew that if he let this happen in all likely hood he would never get up again. It was the hardest thing he'd ever done, but the reward was well worth it. Just next to the tree was an earth, it had a strange wooden plank over it but Red was just too tired to care about what that might mean. He staggered inside. As he cleared the threshold something on the floor made him trip. There was an almighty clang a gate had fallen across the earth's entrance. A stark realization hit Red, he was trapped.


	4. Lost Freedom

**4. Lost Freedom**

It was the early morning and Red had begun to stir. He'd fallen into a deep uneasy sleep the previous day after finding himself trapped inside a strange earth. Unbeknown to Red his situation had in fact got much worse while he slept. During the afternoon and night following his imprisonment he had been found and moved by those responsible for setting the trap.

Two humans had arrived at the earth in the early hours of the night. They had lifted the wooden plank expecting their trap to be empty as usual, but were ecstatic to find that this wasn't the case. Inside was a fox, a black coated fox to be exact. Neither had seen such an animal before or knew if it was possible to ever see one. What they did know though, was that their buyer would pay handsomely for such a specimen. They quickly removed the cage from the ground and loaded the unknowing Red into their truck. With their job complete they set off into the night, transporting Red to his new home.

Red slowly opened his eyes and raised his head. He felt terrible, his head was pounding and his vision spun. Something was wrong, he felt ill, very ill, and cold too. His vision finally stopped spinning long enough that he could take in his surroundings. He was no longer in the earth he went to sleep in that was for sure. The cage still surrounded him but outside of it was what seemed like a large cave. It was odd for a cave though, the walls were straight and flat. Likewise was the floor and ceiling, everything seemed so artificial. It was then that he noticed the other cages, rows and rows of them, all lined up. Inside were sleeping animals of all descriptions. Most of them were small animals, mice, rats, rabbits, voles, the list went on and on. There was one other large animal besides himself present though, another fox was in a cage one along from his. It was an old, decrepit looking male who twitched and fidgeted as he slept. Suddenly Red became aware of a pair of eyes watching him through the gloom. He stared back, trying his best not to let the fear building in the pit of his stomach show on his face.

"So you've finally decided to wake up eh?" Said a squawking voice that came from the direction of the eyes.

"Who are you, and what do you mean?" demanded Red.

"Your eyes aren't very good are they?" quipped the voice "Very well seen as you can't come to me, I'll have to come to you"

There was a flutter of wings and a clang. A large bird had swooped down and alighted on top of Red's cage. It was the single oddest bird Red had ever seen. It was bright red with yellow and blue wings. The bird was absolutely huge, its bright white face stared down at him.

"Wh...wha...what are you?" stammered Red looking flabbergasted.

"What's the matter never seen a parrot before eh?" replied the bird.

"A parrot?" Red said looking confused.

"A Scarlet Macaw to be exact...name's Macaw" said the bird.

"Now you know my name it's only fair I know yours" continued Macaw.

"It's...it's..." Red began. He stared into distance. It was gone, he couldn't remember his own name!

"I don't know, I...I can't remember" he finished.

"ho-ho-ho so they've started already have they?" laughed Macaw.

"Who's started what exactly? Stop speaking in riddles and give me some straight answers" said Red gaining his composure.

"The humans...this place, they do tests here, experiments if you will" Macaw tried to explain "And the animals here are their test subjects, which is bad news for you I'm afraid"

"So I'm inside one of those human dens then, what kind of tests do they do here?" said Red listening intently.

"Well having never experienced them first hand I can't tell you much, but what I can tell you about is the after effects, I've witnessed plenty of them" said Macaw "The first sign is memory loss as you've experienced, then depending on the severity of the tests, blindness, deafness, sickness, loss of consciousness, muscle spasms, hallucinations, rapid aging, or if you're really lucky death" Macaw elaborated.

"Great, getting caught by the hunt would have been preferable to this" Red said to himself looking dejected. "Ok then, if they perform these tests on all the animals in this room, why not you? Why aren't you in a cage?" Red inquired.

"An acceptable question, but easily answered" said the parrot "Do I look wild to you? I'm what is referred to as domesticated, the humans look after me"

"I don't understand, why do they look after you and not us wild animals?" Red said bewildered.

"Who knows, humans never make much sense" Macaw joked "They give with one hand and take away with the other, it's always the way with them, I've seen it time and time again all my long life"

"You don't seem very old to me" said Red with a hint of disbelief in his voice.

"And you seem pretty ignorant to me, humph, a minute ago you didn't even know what a parrot was and now you're an expert eh?" Macaw said angrily "I'll have you know I've seen at least 30 winters, I stopped counting after they locked me in here come to think of it, but anyway it's still a lot longer than you'll ever see"

"That's unbelievable, you're ancient!" exclaimed Red.

"Excuse me!" bellowed Macaw "I'm not ancient, I'm middle aged thank you very much...tut-tut the youth these days, no manners at all"

"Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you" apologized Red "So what's likely to happen to me today?"

"Nothing if you're lucky, if not..." Macaw trailed off and turned to face the door. A set of footsteps were clearly audible just outside the room. "I think you're about to find out, good luck and I hope we get the chance to talk some more"

With that Macaw flew back to his perch in the corner of the room.

It took another few moments before the door to the room opened, letting light from the corridor outside stream in, two men stepped through. The first man into the room proceeded directly from one cage to the next filling each animals food and water dishes. The second man however walked directly along the row of cages containing Red. This was the top row about six feet off the ground on the doors left hand side. He had some sort of stick in his hand that he was dragging along the front of each cage, waking every animal in turn. Red backed up as far as he could to the rear of his cage. The man stopped once he came to the cage next to Reds, it contained the ragged looking male fox Red had noticed when he woke up. The man seemed annoyed by the fact that the fox hadn't been woken up by all the racket he had been making and so proceeded to bang on the door with his fist. Eventually the fox woke but didn't move, he merely stared the man directly in the eyes, a sadistic looking smile entered the man's lips. Suddenly and without warning the man took a step to his side, positioning himself directly in front of reds cage. Red could feel the man's gaze piercing his fur as he stood there in judgment. Red was ready though, if this human was going to try anything he'd get far more than he bargained for, Red was going to make sure of that. The man looked for a second longer then unclipped a key from his belt and opened Red's cage, Red began to growl and hiss. As soon as the inevitable hand began to reach in he'd pounce on it, and make them all regret capturing him. But it never came, instead the man thrust the stick he was holding in through the cage door, it turned out not to be just a stick. At a flick of the man's wrist a noose of wire extended from its tip. Before Red knew what was happening the noose was around his neck and he was yanked to the front of the cage. The wire was so tight around Red's neck that he couldn't breathe and he began to gasp for air. Meanwhile the man had pulled two other instruments from his pocket. The first looked like some kind of gun, which he brought around to the back of Red's head. There was a clicking sound and Red felt a searing pain in his right ear, he would have yelped out in pain if his breathing wasn't so limited. The human then took hold of the second instrument, it was clear with a long thin tip and looked to contain some form of liquid. This he stuck into one of Red's front legs. Red began to feel dizzy again, his world started to spin and his whole body felt like stone, finally he blacked out.

Red awoke to the flutter of wings, Macaw had once again landed on top of his cage. It was evening and all was quiet.

"So, still alive then? Good...good" began Macaw

Red sluggishly raised his head to greet his new friend.

"Just about I think, really thought that was it for a moment though, probably would have been better if it was" replied Red.

"No doubt...I must say though, you had quite some luck yesterday" said Macaw gesturing at Red's right ear.

Red raised a paw to his ear, some kind of tag was fastened to it.

"What is it, I can't get it out!" Red said desperately.

"Calm down, calm down, it's just an identification tag nothing more, it's green too, that's good news" Macaw said in a calming voice.

"How so?" Red replied a little confused.

"Means you've been picked as important, they won't do anything too risky with you, they want to keep you alive" explained Macaw "A young vixen got the same treatment a few years back, she remained practically untouched for months...up until the last few sad days of her life"

"So basically I've got a few months breathing space to try and find a way out of this prison" summed up Red.

"Ho-ho-ho, escape? Now this should be interesting" laughed Macaw "But I doubt you'll get very far on an empty stomach mind you" continued Macaw pointing with his wing at Reds food bowl.

It was then that Red realized just how hungry he was. It had been over two days since he had last eaten. Without hesitating Red got up and wolfed down every last bit of food and water in his cage. During this time Macaw, sensing the conversation was over had slipped away back to his perch to rest. Once Red had finished eating he lay down nose to tail and started to think.

"There's got to be a way out of this place" on that note he closed his eyes and fell asleep.


End file.
